Batting

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After trailing by two runs at the top of the second inning of the first game on Thursday afternoon, the MIT softball team came from behind to defeat Newbury College, 8-2, in non-conference play. Later on in the evening, the Engineers won their second game against the Nighthawks, 3-0. The games were the season opener for Tech, while Newbury fell to 3-7 for the season.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the first, Newbury added another run in the second on an RBI single by Alyssa Donovan. The Nighthawks remained ahead until the bottom of the fifth when freshman Alexandra Marshall (Glen Head, N.Y.) doubled, moving to third base on sophomore Sarah Van Belleghem's (Los Gatos, Calif.) single. Marshall then scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of freshman Melissa Kreider (Branford, Conn.), leaving Van Belleghem on third. With a single by sophomore Ellie Fodor (Trenton, Mich.), Van Belleghem also scored, evening the score at 2-2.

MIT broke the game open in the sixth inning with six runs, taking advantage of three Newbury errors. After a leadoff single by senior Leah Alpert (Needham, Mass.), Newbury committed back-to-back errors that led to the first Engineer run of the inning. Marshall, Fodor and Jensen all added RBI singles in the inning as MIT took control of the game.

Marshall came in to pitch the final three innings of the game, giving up only one hit and striking out seven to earn the win.

Marshall started game two and got out of a bases loaded, one-out jam, getting a fielder's choice and a ground out to short to end the threat. In the bottom of the second, MIT scored what proved to be the winning run when Alpert led off with a single, moved to third with a sacrifice and scored on a ground out by Kreider. After walks to Kirwin and Marshall and a single by Van Belleghem loaded the bases, the Engineers struck for two more runs on a Wopat single.

Fodor then came on in relief of Marshall and did the rest for MIT, holding Newbury to just one hit over the final three innings to pick up the win.

The Engineers will return to the pitch on Tuesday, March 19 when they host Simmons College at 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.